SPRINGFIELD - The owners of a DeWitt County landfill expect to spend at least $30,000 to try and convince voters to back plans to build a chemical waste facility there.

Peoria Disposal Co. vice president Christopher Coulter said Thursday that a new political action committee formed Tuesday will pay for at least three mass mailings aimed at swaying voters minds on the contentious issue.

The company wants a federal permit to include a chemical waste component to the current landfill expansion south of Clinton.

The DeWitt County Board supports the plan, which would allow the storage of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

DeWitt County voters will get a chance to sound off on the plan in a nonbinding referendum on Feb. 5. Board president Steve Lobb has said the board's backing of the expansion could be reconsidered if the results come back overwhelmingly "no."

Coulter said the company has already sent out two mailers to every household in the county in anticipation of the Feb. 5 vote. A third mailer is expected to be sent out next week. The total cost of the initiative is expected to be between $20,000 and $30,000.

Coulter said the mailings are aimed at countering opposition to the landfill by a group calling itself WATCH (We're Against Toxic Chemicals.)

"We're not going to just lay down and not respond," Coulter said. "We feel like we've got a great site for this."

State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, has introduced legislation that would require such sites to be approved by popular vote in the municipality or county where they are proposed.

But, he had no comment Thursday about the company's mailers.

"It's up to the people to decide," Mitchell said.